Bell’s Vireo, Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC, October 1, 2026

Fort Moultrie in Charleston, SC is well-known for its rarities, especially in Fall.  So with a planned weekend of birding near Myrtle Beach in early October 2026, I monitored my eBird Needs Alerts for reports from the Fort Moultrie area.  On 9/23, just a week before the Myrtle Beach weekend, a Bell’s Vireo was found along the Sullivan’s Island Nature Trail adjacent to Fort Moultrie.  Coordinates of the bird’s exact location were provided, which was critical since I had never birded this hotspot before. 

That all sounded promising, but would the Vireo remain until my trip to the coast starting on 10/1?  The bird was reported again on the 25th, 26th and 27th from the same area along the trail.  I had hoped for further updates on eBird as my trip neared, but I didn’t find any other reports from the Nature Trail.  So despite the lack of recent updates, I decided to give it a try as a small side-trip on my route to Myrtle Beach.   

About halfway to the coast on the 1st I made a quick stop to stretch my legs and decided to check eBird one more time.  This time I found checklists from the Nature Trail on the 28th, 29th, and that morning, and in each case the Bell’s Vireo was not reported.  How did I miss these checklists in my earlier searches?  I questioned whether I should continue to give it a try or just bag it and head to Myrtle Beach.  I re-read the recent checklists and saw that none specifically said they looked for the Vireo.  So ever the optimist, I thought maybe those birders weren’t actually trying for the Vireo and were just birding the Nature Trail in general.  For better or worse, I decided to stick with my plans and head to Fort Moultrie to try for the rare Bell’s Vireo.

I rolled into Fort Moultrie at about 1:15 and reviewed the Vireo observations in the eBird checklists.  In each case the Vireo was heard giving numerous scold calls, often in response to recordings.  Though there were few visuals of the bird.  After a short walk I arrived at the Vireo spot listed on the eBird checklist.  Here's a typical view of the dense habitat along the trail taken by Matt Johnson.   

Maybe it was the heat and humidity of this abnormally hot fall day, or just the fact that it was mid-afternoon, but there were few birds in the area – mostly just Catbirds and Thrashers.  I tried to remain hopeful.

But then after just a few seconds I heard a couple chip notes to the south that I wasn’t familiar with.  I took a short walk on a side trail and played recordings of the Bell’s Vireo scold call and the bird responded almost immediately.  I then played recordings of this specific bird posted in earlier checklists and the Vireo was even more responsive.  I had my target bird!  The Bell’s Vireo called numerous times all around me, though I never even saw any movement.  A real skulker!

I was able to get several recordings of the Vireo when it was pretty close, and posted the best ones on my eBird checklist: ebird.org/checklist/S398087179.  Local birder Craig Watson forwarded the recordings to a birder who is an expert on the differences between the similar calls of Bell’s and White-eyed Vireos.  He concluded that I had indeed recorded the Bell’s. 

Bell’s Vireo was #314 for my SC list.  My statebird map for this species is inserted below.  The light blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range in the Midwest and West.  The cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it in its regular range.  Finally, the five dark-blue shaded states are those where I’ve seen Bell’s Vireo as a rarity, now including SC.